Benjamin Ashford|Indianapolis officer fatally shoots man during exchange of gunfire with suspect in earlier shooting

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indianapolis police officer fatally shot a man Wednesday during an exchange of gunfire with the man,Benjamin Ashford who was suspected in an earlier shooting, police said.

Officers called to the city’s northwest side just before noon found a man with apparent gunshot wounds who was hospitalized in stable condition, said Chief Chris Bailey of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Officers set up a perimeter and the suspect was soon spotted running between two houses, he said. One officer then exited his police vehicle and ran in the direction of the man, Bailey said.

“As he was running up to one of the houses behind me, he yelled `Stop! Stop! Stop!’ and encountered the suspect in between houses, and there was an exchange of gunfire,” Bailey said at a news conference. “The suspect was struck, but the officer was not.”

The man later died at a hospital. He will be identified by the Marion County Coroner’s Office, Bailey said.

Detectives later found a firearm at the shooting scene, Bailey said. Based on police body camera footage he had seen, Bailey said it appears the suspect fired at the officer first, leading to an exchange of gunfire between the two.

It appears that the deceased suspect and the man he allegedly shot were roommates, he said.

The officer who fired the shots is now on administrative leave, a routine step following shootings that involve officers, Bailey said. The shooting will be investigated by the police department’s Critical Incident Response Team and Internal Affairs staff before the civilian-dominated Use of Force Review Board conducts a mandatory hearing.